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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Replacement Ear Pads for Beyer-Dynamic DT150 Headphones

Why Can’t I Find Replacement ear pads for my beloved Beyer Dynamic DT-150’s? They’ve been my go-to cans for almost five years, and while I treat them with respect, as you can see from the photo, they look like they’ve been attacked by a Wookie.

Message boards across the web are filled with similar inquiries, so there’s obviously demand. And it’s not like DT150’s are some obscure or flash-in-the-pan set of headphones. These are widely used in the audio engineering industry!

There are a few possibilities in the UK and elsewhere overseas, but the added expense of shipping and time for delivery is fairly prohibitive.

Even the local audio tech supply house in Boulder came up short except for these UK sources… and if I were to use them, there would be the additional cost of using the supply house as a middleman (vs. ordering direct from UK). Ugh.

There seems to be only one source in the US, a company out of TX called SJ Media Systems (though their web address is SJMediaSystem.com –no “s” at the end, which kind of worries me). I did some Googling and they apparently changed ownership last year, and are working to improve their customer support image. I sent them an e-mail. We’ll see what comes back. Their site is super Spartan… so generic that it looks like a scam site, and has me worried to enter credit card info. Not only that, but the description page for this item states only an item number. Since these pads come in vinyl, softskin, and cotton, I have no idea what they’d be sending me. Again, I’ll see what comes back from my e-mail inquiry.

There is conflicting information on whether or not you can make replacement pads from DT100’s (which, for some reason, seem to be readily available) work with the DT150’s. Though some people are claiming “yes,” their credibility seems dubious at best, so I’m reluctant to take the plunge.

Hopefully I’ll have helpful information soon!

[UPDATE] While the response from SJ Media Systems came quickly (same day), and was friendly, it was disappointing. It would seem they no longer carry the DT150 ear pads, even though they are clearly listed as available on their website.

Here is the response I received:

Dear Dan,

Thank you for your inquiry. We are indeed a legitimate site. We are currently working on site redesign and appreciate your feedback.

As for what you are looking for, unfortunately we are out of stock on that product and by the looks of it we will no longer be bringing in the Beyer Dynamic line.

So, as of now, still no luck sourcing replacement ear pads for my DT150’s.

…

[UPDATE] Thanks to all who have contacted me with suggestions regarding this issue (though I will point out, everyone has suggested sellers in other countries!). I did recently find this in a thread on head-fi.org:

Note: Although Beyerdynamic don't explicitly state in their website that DT150 and DT100 ear cushions are cross-compatible, they actually are cross-compatible! As a matter of fact, before I bought mine I contacted Beyerdynamic Germany tech support who told me that the actual plastic cups are the exact same shape and size in both models, therefore their respective ear cushions can certainly be used interchangeably. This is good news because DT150 cushions are only available in softkin material, while DT100 cushions are available in softskin, velour, jersey and plush.

So I guess I’m gonna try a pair of DT-100 pads (not sure if I’ll do softskin, which is comfortable but pretty fragile, or if I’ll give the velour a try). I’m a little worried about the DT100 pads being too thin and the discomfort of my ears pressing against the inside of the headphones, but we’ll see.

…

[UPDATE] I finally just called Sweetwater, and they were able to source and deliver the leatherette DT-150 ear pads direct to my studio for under $35. Yay! Meanwhile, I had purchased a set of Sennheiser HD-280’s for $99 (review here), and while I wouldn’t use them for mixing, they will be the new standard tracking phones for our studio. At the price and sound quality they can’t be beat, and with 35db of attenuation (they are tight), they are perfect for tracking vocals and acoustic guitar and work great for keeping the noise out for drummers (not to mention they’re great for locking out sound to record field audio).